Update:
The cab was our focus this weekend, which was good, as two passing tropical storms put to rest any hope of spray painting! I am able to put more and more of this project into Kid-zilla’s hands, which is, of course, a goal. I still help with idea generation and provide safety overwatch, but it is satisfying to watch him choose materials, glues, sandpaper, etc.
He began Friday by cutting a strip of styrene and clamping it under the “brim” of the roof to serve as a base for the patch.
I helped to appley the MEK to serve as glue (He thought the idea of melting the plastic together was pretty cool!), and I helped for a CA glue fillet to hold the shape.
The next day, he filled in the gap between the styrene strip and the roof then formed a patch with epoxy putty, carefully molding it to shape.
He sanded it smooth this morning and said, “Hey! This looks pretty good!” In fact, it does!
Later today, he took to the issue of the roof vent, measuring both the rails and styrene cap by himself and cutting them to length.
A bigger chore proved to be grinding, cutting, and filing out the no-longer-needed plastic thing with the circle in it. Y.D. helped to spur him along, as she wanted him to go to the park with her!
I helped to mix some two-part epoxy to mount the rails, and voila! Ready for final surface prep, masking, and paint!
He demonstrated the hatch at dinner, and he declared it too small. That’s an easy fix, and I am sure we can repurpose the test part!
I told him that he has to mask the windows, inside and out, and make sure he was happy with his epoxy work. Then PCU Silver Star’s cab will be off to the paint shop! I should note, we also cleared some flashing from the boiler and smoke box and, after soaking the metal compressor and generator overnight in paint thinner, finally scraped off the thick, bubbly factory paint. The rest of this loco is also almost ready for paint, which is exciting!
Updates as progress merits!
Eric
